Description
Book SynopsisTakes up the debate between universalists and relativists, and, in political philosophy, between communitarians and liberals, each of which has roots in an earlier debate between Kant and Hegel. This book focuses on three case studies: promises, contract law, and the Fourth Amendment issue of privacy.
Trade Review"The central question in this lucid and thoughtful book is, what force do the existence of practices, customs, and traditions have when we make legal and ethical judgments? Tunick's answer is that as much as we need principles to criticize our practices, practices still matter for legal and ethical judgement."--Ethics "Practical and beneficial as a reference for research. As a whole, anyone with strong affection for the area of philosophy will likely enjoy the style and substance offered in Practices and Principles."--New York Law Journal "Tunick ... does a fine job of arguing against those approaches that reify absolute principles and those that rely solely on the justifying power of agreed-upon social practice... The truth, asserts Tunick, lies somewhere in between, in the unresolvable tension that arises when practice and principle collide and transform each other... [Tunick's] writing style is clear and relatively jargon-free... Recommended."--Choice
Table of ContentsCh. 1Introduction3Ch. 2Kant versus Hegel19Kant's Principle Conception21Hegel's Criticism of Kant's Principle Conception30Hegel on the Importance of Social Practice34Implications43Kant or Hegel: Principles without Practice or Principles Immanent in Practice?48Ch. 3Promises50The Problem50Scanlon's Example54Principle Conceptions of Promising58Scanlon's Principles M and F83Conclusion: Practices and the Obligation to Keep Promises90Ch. 4Contracts96Problems in Contract Law96Principles104Practices and Principles in Contract Law133Ch. 5Privacy137The Problem137Determining the Reasonableness of Expectations of Privacy: Practice or Principles?144Incorporating Practice and Principle in Fourth Amendment Reasonable-Expectation-of-Privacy Analysis: The Mischance Principle Applied172Ch. 6Practices, Principles, and Contemporary Political Theory191The Role of Social Practice in Ethical and Legal Judging193Contemporary Political Theorists on the Role of Social Practice199Practices and Principles204Practices, Principles, and the Liberal-Communication Debate209Practices, Principles, and the Relativism-Universalism Debate217Bibliography223Index of Cases235General Index237
